Bad Experience with GasWise
In December of last year (2013) I learnt of a GasWise (GW) offer to service a gas boiler for €50 from an email circulated by the 123.ie insurance company to its clients. And so I engaged them, however a few hours after their service the boiler stopped working. GW came back twice more to attempt to resurrect the boiler and the same thing happened both times, meaning that after some jiggling they got the boiler going but it stopped a few hours later. They made several guesses regarding the causes of the problem (different each time), sending me on wild goose chases in my own subsequent attempts to find a solution, which I eventually did through appropriate enquiries and the internet. It was very simple and should have been found quickly by a competent installer, especially one that claims to be an expert in my make of boiler, as GW does. It was implemented by another installer in ten minutes (I could have easily done this myself but had to employ an RGI installer by law). The boiler has been running beautifully since then. Technical competence aside, GW’s conduct towards me, the customer, was appalling. After their first return they bluntly and rudely refused to come back or discuss the issue, showing a callous indifference to leaving me, a 67 year old pensioner, with no heat during a chilly spell and Christmas round the corner, a situation they created. They only returned the second time after intervention from 123 to whom I complained. (After that second return they claimed to 123 they fixed the boiler which of course they hadn’t). From then on they were rude and obstructive in various ways. They did not return phone calls or respond to emails. They refused to disclose or discuss what they did with the boiler on their various visits to help me move forward with a solution. They were not averse to overcharging either. One of their proposed solutions involved changing an irrelevant cheap component and for that work they quoted double the amount of other installers. Whilst searching for a way to restore my boiler I was freezing for two weeks. GW wasted countless hours of my time in forcing me to seek a solution, they caused me a lot of discomfort and distress, and in the end cost me more than a conventional service would and refused to refund me the money I paid them. In conclusion, if you have a routine issue then maybe GW are ok. But if you expect a thoughtful and committed approach to problem solving, and the most basic courtesy and customer care, then look elsewhere. Why take the risk, there is plenty of installers out there with all those attributes.
